How to Use Social Media to Find New Leads

A S O C I A L P R O S P E C T I N G W O R K B O O K

How to UseSocial Media toFind New Leads

What is Social Prospecting?As an inbound marketer, you already understand the importance of social media as part of your marketing strategy. With more than one billion monthly active users on Facebook, and over 230 million monthly active users on Twitter, smart marketers know there’s more potential than ever to use social platforms to get their name out there, spread their content, and draw more people to their site. Hey, it’s your job to make people aware of what your company can o�er, right?

Right. So that’s why smart inbound marketers practice social prospecting – the art of scouring the social web, identifying potential prospects for your business, and engaging them to draw them to your site and get those potential prospects to your sales team. You’ve already got your fans and followers in your social networks. Now it’s time to check out everyone else.

About This WorkbookThis social prospecting workbook will teach you how to listen to social media conversations in order to generate leads for your business. It’s beyond monitoring keywords. It’s about engaging people that may or may not know what your business can do for them.

We’ve identi�ed the quickest way to �nd potential prospects on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+. We hope you can use the worksheets to help you get started with social prospecting.

Every worksheet includes:

■ Short preparatory work to make the actual prospecting easy ■ Visual instructions on how and where to �nd prospects ■ Pro tips that will help you get the best results ■ Prescriptions (Marketing Rx) for success ■ Take-home exercises for follow-up prospecting

Getting StartedTo get started with any one of these worksheets, you’ll need:

■ A social pro�le for that network

■ Keyword phrases that people use to �nd you on search

■ Organic content related to those keyword phrases

Contents:Twitter . . . . . 5-10

LinkedIn . . . . 11-15

Facebook . . . 16-19

Pinterest . . . . 20-23

Google+ . . . . 24-28

Write down the top three keyword phrases that people use to find you on search. You’ll be able to use this content to draw prospects back to your website.

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Pro Tip: Remember, shorter keyword phrases work better for Twitter.

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Twitter

Head on over to Twitter and type in your keywords and hashtags using any combination you would like.

Please Note: Twitter has a couple options to sort your search results (see above). It automatically shows you “Top” results. If you’d like to see more results, click “All” at the top of your search. Or, just to the left of your search results, you can click “People” to only see other pro�les, not tweets,that match your search.

Twitter

Pro Tip: Mix and match searching your keyword phrases with a hashtag and without a hashtag for the most diverse results.

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Based on their profiles, identify five Twitter users that could be potential leads for your business. Then follow them!

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Now it’s time to start sharing the pieces of content you identified earlier. Start engaging with potential prospects by:

■ Retweeting some of the content they’ve shared on Twitter, especially if what they shared is relevant to your industry (remember, these will appear to your followers)

■ Clicking “Favorite” for relevant tweets to your industry or tweets you appreciate for being interesting or funny (these will not appear to your followers)

■ Responding to any questions they may have tweeted to establish thought leadership

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#tweetHello, world.

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Create a Twitter list of all the potential prospects you’ve identi�ed to make checking in on them easy for you. Make sure to name your list something that is relevant to your industry. (You do this from your own pro�le page, under the “More” dropdown menu.)

Please Note: Twitter lists can be public or private. If you make a public list, name it something you don’t mind others seeing (so do NOT name a public list “My Prospects” for instance – name it, “[Your Industry] Leaders” or something equally complimentary.) When you add someone to a public list, they get an alert the same way they get alerts for retweets, favorites, and @-mentions. (If you’d rather create a private list, feel free to name it whatever is best for your Twitter usage.)

Spend 20 minutes a week:

■ Repeating this exercise and adding more prospects to your list (5 mins)

■ Retweeting relevant content for your industry from this Twitter list (5 mins)

■ Favoriting tweets from potential prospects from this Twitter list (5 mins)

■ Engaging with potential prospects by posing or answering questions from your Twitter list to establish thought leadership (5 mins)

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Write down three pieces of content that are related to the search results of your keyword phrases.

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Pro Tip: Remember, more business-focused keywords are favored on LinkedIn.

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Pro Tip: You can narrow your search results in the menu on the left by choosing what your relationship is to members of the groups, for instance if you want a category of “Open” or “Members only,” or if you want search results for groups that are in one or multiple languages.

Sign into LinkedIn, and to the left of the top search bar, select “Groups” from the drop-down icon menu, which will search all LinkedIn groups.

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Don’t Forget: Some groups are private, so you may need to wait until you are accepted into the group to complete the worksheet.

Based on the group’s description (and a quick scan), identify five LinkedIn Groups that could have potential prospects for your business and join them.

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■ Joining in on conversations in the group where you can add value with your content

■ “Liking” content that others are sharing in the group

■ Sharing your own content and posing your own questions to the group

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When you �nd a particular post within the group you want to monitor, you can choose to “Follow Discussion” so you’ll be updated when content for that post is added.

[Take-home exercise]


■ Reviewing the content in the groups you’ve joined (5 mins)

■ Commenting and adding value to posts from others in the group (5 mins)

■ Evaluating those you engage with the most to see if a connection is a good �t (5 mins)

■ Share one piece of organic content to the groups you’ve joined (5 mins)

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Write down three pieces of content that are related to the search results of your keyword phrases.

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Write down 3 long-tail search queries that are created from those keywords.

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Facebook

Sign into Facebook and type your long-tail search queries into Graph Search and see what comes up.

Pro Tip: If you’re not familiar with Graph Search, spend a few minutes and take the tour. Worth it! You can �nd that tour here: https://www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch

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Identify three pages could potentially have leads for you and “Like” them.

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Identify three groups could you join that prospects could potentially be in and join them.

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■ Joining in on conversations on pages and groups where you can add value with content

■ “Liking” relevant content on pages that is relevant to your industry

■ Asking questions on pages and groups to engage others

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Facebook

If possible, subscribe to the pages’ or the groups’ RSS feed (if enabled) so you don’t miss any relevant content.



■ Scanning the pages you’ve “liked” for any opportunity to join the conversation (5 mins)

■ Searching the groups you’ve joined for opportunities to o�er help or content (5 mins)

■ Engaging with people from the groups or pages directly on their pro�les (if possible) (5 mins)

■ Share one piece of organic content to the groups or pages you’ve joined (5 mins)

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Write down the top three keyword phrases (with a hashtag) that people use to find you on search. You’ll be able to use this content to draw prospects back to your website.

1. 2. 3.

Set

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Pinterest

Go to Pinterest search and type in the keyword phrases with hashtags (and try without hashtags, too).

Pro Tip: Use the left-hand menu of the Pinterest search bar to drill down into speci�c industries that could be a good �t for you.

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Pinterest

Now it’s time to start sharing the pieces of content you have already identified earlier. Start engaging with potential prospects by:

■ Scanning your new dashboard �lled with the boards you follow for any relevant content

■ Re-pinning any content from prospects that are useful to your followers

■ Adding value through comments to pins by your prospects

Act

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Pinterest

Sign up for PinAlerts to see what’s being pinned to Pinterest from your website by potential prospects. You can learn more here: http://pinalerts.com/index/login.



■ Scanning the boards you follow to see any new pins (5 mins)

■ Re-pinning any relevant content that your prospects are posting (5 mins)

■ Evaluating anyone as a prospect who has pinned something from your website (5 mins)

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1. 2. 3.

Pro Tip: Get context for your search results by toggling between All, Friends, Family, Acquaintances, and Following.

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Identify three people and pages that could potentially have leads for you and “follow” them.

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Identify three communities that could potentially have leads for you and “join” them.

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Google+


■ Digging into the pages and people you’ve followed and adding value when possible through comments

■ Liking (“+1”) any content that’s relevant to your and your business

■ Identify regular contributors in your communities and engage with them through answering questions or providing helpful content

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Google+

Save all your Google+ searches for easy access later. (Just bookmark or save the URLs of your searches.)



■ Scanning Google+ posts and commenting on one relevant piece content (15 mins)

■ Work on building relationships with regular contributors in communities by adding thought leadership to content they’ve shared (15 mins)

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Need an Inbound Lift?If you’re looking for an agency that can get your B2B content marketing ideas o� the ground, look no further. Give Billy Mitchell a call at 800-265-1244, ext. 227, or reach him online [email protected]. Hurry up, though. We can’t wait to get started.

The MLT Creative team brings decades of B2B marketing experience to building your brands and business. We craft winning programs with results that matter.

MLT Creative is an Atlanta-based B2B marketing agency. Founded by partners Billy Mitchell and Glenn Taylor, we are known as the Idea Launch Pad™ for B2B marketers. MLT Creative services include B2B Content Marketing, B2B Marketing Strategy, B2B Digital Campaigns, and B2B Design / Branding.

4020 East Ponce de Leon AvenueClarkston, GA 30021www.mltcreative.comPhone: (404) 292-4502Fax: (404) 292-4480

How to Use Social Media to Find New Leads

Marketing

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